Many of you have been patiently waiting for news of the container of urgently needed recycled medical equipment and supplies which Aid to Hospitals Worldwide, a UK charity, has kindly accessed for us (http://www.a2hw.org.uk/ ). Thank you so much to all of you who have contributed so generously and raised £1932 towards the cost of shipping the container from the UK to Mombasa. We are also very grateful to Alison Lowndes from AVIF (http://www.avif.org.uk/ ) who visited us at Arrow Web Hospital earlier this year and has worked closely with A2HW on our behalf.

Having submitted a proposal to Safaricom earlier in the year, we had received reassurances that they could fund the cost of transportation. However, at the end of August we heard that unfortunately they could not help us this year as they had given us funds for dental instruments in 2009. (They have invited us to apply for more funding next year.) So unfortunately we had to postpone shipment of the container in August until we could raise over £3000 which was still needed to cover transportation and administration costs. Jackie at A2HW has been very helpful in advising us and keeping us informed as well as rescheduling shipping dates.

In September we approached Lucy Philipson from COCO in the UK (http:///www.coco.org.uk ). You may remember that she and her colleague Kat were able to visit us in May while they were in Africa. She asked us to submit a proposal for the remaining funds we needed and as a result COCO directors generously agreed to help us. We are so grateful to them for responding so quickly to our urgent request.

So Bram is busy getting the necessary approval from the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Finance so that the Kenyan Revenue Authority can issue a Tax Exemption Certificate. A new date has been set for the shipment - November 16th. So what a wonderful Christmas present for the staff and patients at Arrow Web Hospital.

The container will include beds, dental chairs, baby warmers and laboratory equipment and many other essential pieces of equipment. The value of the goods as new would be over £58,000 (about 7,400,000 Kenyan shillings)

Many, many thanks to everyone who has given so generously - this will make such a difference to the people we treat and care for and to our dedicated staff.

NHS Grampian staff visit Arrow Web Hospital

If you have been following our blog you will know that we have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of our new partners from NHS Grampian, a health authority in Scotland (http://www.nhsgrampian.org ). Just over a week ago we welcomed Dr Jamie Hogg and Liz Tait (from NHS Grampian) and Carolyn Adams (our international project facilitator) to Arrow Web Hospital.

We were able to show them around the hospital and introduce them to board members, staff and patients. They were very impressed with the wide range of services we provide, with our very limited resources.

They brought six large bags of medical supplies and baby clothes with them. These had been generously donated by NHS Grampian, their staff and people in Moray where Liz and Jamie are based.

We hope that the visit, which had been funded by the International Health Links Funding Scheme (http:///www.britishcouncil.org/learning-healthlinks.htm) will be the start of a long term relationship between Arrow Kenya and NHS Grampian. Before Jamie, Liz and Carolyn left us we agreed to work together on four priority areas.

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Funding and financial management
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Hospital building infrastructure
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Clinical and organisational systems and practice
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Strengthening the relationship between Arrow Kenya and the Embakasi District Health Authority

Bram was able to introduce our visitors to the District Medical Officer, Dr Adede and other local health service providers and managers at an Embakasi District stakeholder seminar. He also arranged a meeting with Martin Ngaru, the National Hospital Insurance Fund accreditation manager. They were all very interested to hear about our special partnership and were keen to be involved.
We now have to submit a detailed proposal for funding to take forward our plan with NHS Grampian. So there is a lot of work to do before the deadline at the end of the year. If we are successful, the partnership (which is mainly focused on training and education) , will allow Arrow Kenya to continue to improve the quality and scope of its services , treating and caring for more patients and improving the health of more people in our communities.

Jamie, Liz and Carolyn, thank you so much for coming to see us and the work that we do. We look forward to seeing you again before too long.

Below are some photos to remind you of your visit!

Japanese Embassy proposal for a new hospital

We submitted a proposal to the Japanese Embassy in Nairobi for funds to build a new hospital before their deadline at the end of July. Unfortunately we were advised that the Embassy had already awarded all the grants for this year. However they told us that they would prioritise our request for next year.

New website

We are just completing our new website which you can see at http://www.arrowkenya.org/ . We hope you like it. If you have any comments or suggestions please let us know.
Many thanks to Graham Adams, a volunteer from the UK for all his hard work in setting it up for us.